Marathon Symbiosis Changes | Gaming News #65
Marathon Symbiosis changes land December 8: a bigger Perimeter, quieter exfils, and a random revival monitor in this extraction shooter overhaul.
Gaming News · Issue #65 · 11 October 2026
TL;DR
- Marathon Symbiosis changes land December 8: a bigger Perimeter, quieter exfils, and a random revival monitor in this extraction shooter overhaul.
- MW4's DMZ opens October 20 for digital pre-orders, three days before everyone else.
- Deadlock just beat Team Fortress 2's all-time Steam peak while still invite-only.
- Razer's new mouse spins you 180 degrees with one click, and nobody has ruled whether that is legal yet.
🎯 Extraction shooters
Marathon's December Update Halves Exfil Noise and Randomises the Revival Monitor
Marathon game director Del Chafe III posted on October 9 what Bungie is changing for the Symbiosis update on December 8, after asking players for feedback. Perimeter gets a big rework with more places to explore and more escape routes. The guaranteed Security Monitor revival spawn becomes random, and "dinner bell" audio from exfils and locked rooms drops by about 50 percent, though Bungie says audio details may still change. Rook keeps a 4x2 inventory after death and can upgrade to 4x4 through a Faction.
Player impact: Camping exfils and locked rooms gets harder, so third-party hunters lose their easiest tell. Squads that relied on a guaranteed revive need a backup plan by December 8.
Sources: Shacknews
MW4's DMZ Opens October 20 for Pre-Orders, Three Days Before Launch
Activision confirmed on October 9 that anyone who digitally pre-orders or pre-purchases Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (Standard Digital or Vault Edition) gets DMZ early access on Tuesday, October 20. Campaign early access starts Friday, October 16, and multiplayer plus the full launch follow on October 23. DMZ is MW4's extraction mode: squads raid the Hajin map for loot and contracts, then have to get out alive. It runs on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC through Battle.net, Steam, and the Xbox app, and Switch 2.
Player impact: Pre-order buyers get a three-day head start on DMZ loot, bounties, and the level 70 grind. Everyone else drops into a map where the early crowd already knows the routes.
Sources: GamingTrend · Activision Support
Vaultbreakers Shadow-Drops a Free Demo and Opens a PvPvE Alpha on October 15
Vaultbreakers, a top-down extraction RPG from BetaDwarf co-published by Square Enix, dropped a free Steam demo during the Fall Triple-i Initiative showcase on October 8. The demo is PvE only, with 2 playable characters, part of the Wolfswood map, and co-op for up to 3 players. Its Steam page announces a PvPvE alpha test from October 15 to October 22. Demo progress does not carry over, apart from Legacy Points. No release date or price yet.
Player impact: The demo is free to download now, so squads can learn the loop before the PvPvE alpha adds other players. That alpha week is the real test of whether it is more than another loot grinder.
Sources: Steam (Vaultbreakers Demo) · FullCleared
🔫 FPS
Deadlock Beats Team Fortress 2's All-Time Steam Peak While Still Invite-Only
Valve's hero shooter Deadlock hit 262,145 concurrent players on Steam, according to SteamDB figures reported by PC Gamer on October 10, passing Team Fortress 2's all-time peak. The jump followed the October 9 release of Solomon, a chess-themed hero and the third of six heroes players voted in during the City Never Sleeps update. Valve says the next voted hero lands Tuesday, October 13. Deadlock is still an invite-only test with no public launch date.
Player impact: If you do not have an invite yet, a friend almost certainly does now. Two more voted heroes are coming, so the meta keeps shifting every week.
WARDOGS Studio Calls PS6 and Project Helix Versions 'a Straight Port'
BULKHEAD co-founder Howard Philpott told IGN, as reported by GamingBolt on October 9, that bringing WARDOGS to PS6 and Microsoft's Project Helix would be "a straight port" with little to consider. Senior producer Kane Allard said the studio is already talking with those platform holders. The current plan is still PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with 1.0 targeted for 2028. Separately, BULKHEAD confirmed the Lonestar (blue) faction wins far less often and Season 2 brings fixes.
Player impact: Console players have a real roadmap now, though 1.0 is still years away. Blue-team mains should watch the Season 2 patch notes on October 15 for the balance fix.
Sources: GamingBolt · PCGamesN
🔜 Coming soon
Metro 2039 Pre-Orders Reportedly Open October 13 With a 300 Euro Collector's Edition
Leaker billbil-kun of Dealabs reports Metro 2039 pre-orders open October 13, and no later than October 14, as covered by Insider Gaming on October 10. The official Metro account says pre-orders go live this week. Leaked prices are 69.99 euros for the Day One edition, 109.99 euros for Deluxe, and 299.99 euros for the Collector's, which includes a wearable Spartan helmet replica. The game is due in February 2027 on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S. Prices are unconfirmed.
Player impact: If the leak holds, the base game sits at the full 70 euro tier. Wait for official confirmation before locking in a Deluxe pre-order.
Sources: Insider Gaming
No Such Place Prices Early Access at $17.99 and Shuts Its Demo on October 12
Crit Team posted on Steam on October 10 that the co-op extraction game No Such Place enters early access on October 14 at $17.99, with a 14 percent discount for the first two weeks. The demo closes on October 12, and demo saves carry into the release version through Steam Cloud. The studio also said Steam policy changes mean it cannot sell the 2-pack or 4-pack bundles it had planned.
Player impact: Play the demo before Monday if you want a head start, since your save carries over. Squads hoping for a cheap 4-pack will each have to buy their own copy.
Sources: No Such Place Steam News
🆕 Just released
Witcher 3 Remastered Patch 5.01 Fixes Base PS5 Frame Caps and Wrong-GPU Picks on PC
CD Projekt Red released patch 5.01 for The Witcher 3 Remastered, reported by Push Square on October 9 as live on PS5. On consoles it adds toggles for bloom, light shafts, and depth of field, corrects base PS5 frame rate limits, and stops PS5 settings resetting on launch. On PC it stops DLSS and XeSS turning on for unsupported GPUs, fixes the game picking the wrong GPU, and sets dynamic resolution off by default. Gameplay fixes cover drifting boats and a dodge delay.
Player impact: Base PS5 players and PC players with two GPUs get the biggest fixes. If you shelved the remaster over stutter or wrong settings, now is a fair time to try again.
Sources: Push Square
🆓 Free to try
Hello Kitty Island Adventure Hits Switch Online Trials as Xbox's Little Nightmares III Trial Ends Today
Nintendo Switch Online members in North America can play Hello Kitty Island Adventure free until October 15 at 11:59pm PT, as a play window only. On Xbox, Free Play Days timed trials of High On Life 2, Little Nightmares III, and Rogue Waters (a 2-hour trial) end Sunday, October 11, with no end time stated. Little Nightmares III is $19.99 during the event. On PS5, ANOMALITH, a classic Resident Evil style horror game, has a free demo ahead of its October 29 launch.
Player impact: Xbox players have until tonight to try High On Life 2 or Little Nightmares III. Switch players get almost a week with Hello Kitty, and nothing from any of these carries a keep-forever claim.
Sources: Nintendo Life · Xbox Wire
🕹️ Console specifics
Xbox Hardware Sales Hit an All-Time Low as a New PS5 Now Averages $597
Circana's Mat Piscatella said on October 9 and 10 that the US console hardware market is in its most precarious position since the early 1980s. Through August 2026, Xbox hardware units are down 33 percent year on year, an all-time low for the brand, and PlayStation is down 25 percent, its lowest since 2013. The average price paid for a new PS5 is about $597 (up 20 percent) and for an Xbox about $529 (up 26 percent), both US records. Piscatella blames component shortages and says GTA 6 could soften the slide.
Player impact: Consoles cost more than ever and fewer people are buying, so expect fewer sales and bundles this holiday. If you are waiting for a price drop before GTA 6, it may not come.
Sources: VGC · Push Square
🖥️ Hardware
Razer's Basilisk V4 Spins You 180 Degrees With One Click, and Nobody Has Ruled If It's Legal
Razer revealed the Basilisk V4 Pro ($170, 50K sensor) and V4 HyperSpeed ($110, 33K sensor), both with 8K polling. A side button can be set in Razer Synapse to snap your aim exactly 180 degrees, per game, which Razer markets to low-sensitivity competitive FPS players. PC Gamer and Dexerto reported on October 9 that players compare it to banned macros and Snap Tap. No game, anti-cheat system, or tournament has issued a ruling yet.
Player impact: Ranked players should hold off binding the 180 button until their game rules on it. Valve banned Snap Tap style inputs in CS2, so a similar call here is possible.
Nvidia Reportedly Stops Making the RTX 5090, Leaving the 5080 24GB on Top
A leaked factory notice, reported by Tom's Hardware on October 10, says Nvidia has stopped producing every RTX 5090 model, including China's D variants, so its GB202 chips go to data center and pro cards. The notice says the RTX 5080 24GB becomes the top GeForce card and the RTX 5080 16GB is discontinued. Nvidia has not commented, so treat it as unconfirmed. Existing stock keeps 5090s on shelves for now.
Player impact: If you planned a 5090 build, prices are likely to climb as stock dries up. Everyone else should watch whether the 5080 24GB gets priced like a flagship.
Sources: Tom's Hardware
📦 Other
GTA 6 Leaker Threatens to Release a Full Playable Build if Its Meme Coin Hits $30 Million
The GTA 6 leaker CyberLeek, behind the 25-minute footage leak, now says it will release a full playable build, story mode to the credits, if its meme coin reaches a $30 million market cap, Eurogamer and Kotaku reported on October 10. Its demand to Take-Two is physical PS5 and Xbox Series X|S discs plus a public apology. Take-Two subpoenaed Discord and Microsoft over the leaks in August. GTA 6 launches November 19. The build claim is unverified.
Player impact: Expect spoilers to spread fast if anything leaks, so mute keywords now if you want the story fresh on November 19. Treat any download link as malware until proven otherwise.
YouTube Deletes a 190,000-Subscriber Channel Over a Censored Hellraiser: Revival Video
French YouTuber J0nathan, with about 190,000 subscribers and more than 10 years of uploads, had his channel terminated over Hellraiser: Revival footage even though he blacked out the nudity, Kotaku and Dexerto reported on October 9. YouTube cited severe or repeated violations of its sex and nudity policy and rejected his first appeal within minutes. He plans to escalate under the EU's Digital Services Act. Publisher Saber had told creators on October 7 to age-restrict their videos.
Player impact: Creators covering mature games should age-gate every upload, censored or not. That rule matters a lot more once GTA 6 lands in November.
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